Pumpkin Muffins with a Candied Walnut Streusel

I know, I know-pumpkin muffins are hardly original and what can I offer that the other 500 dozen recipes out there haven’t done already? Nothing really, so I set out to make a pumpkin muffin with a crumb that would fall on the lighter side rather than the more traditional heavy crumbed version. I stayed with the classic for flavoring and kept the deep fall spices, but finished my muffins with a crunchy streusel that I kicked up with some candied walnuts.

Pumpkin Muffins with a Candied Walnut Streusel

I also made me these for my little guy, who specifically requested them. Now the kid has never requested any dessert, at least not unsolicited. He doesn’t even like desserts, so he was quick to explain that a pumpkin muffin is breakfast food, not dessert—”Whatever, son.“

This is a close start – so yay, me, for making him an “almost dessert” he likes. Of course his was without the streusel, but I highly recommend making these pumpkin muffins with the candied walnut streusel. It adds a whole another layer to the ensemble that’s not too sweet and a whole lot crunchy.

Pumpkin Muffins with a Candied Walnut Streusel

Yield: Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

Pumpkin Muffin

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Candied walnut streusel

1 cup candied walnut

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoon granulated sugar

4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

Preparation

Line wells of a muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 425 degrees F.

To make pumpkin muffin

Place flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine; set side.

In a separate bowl combine sugar and eggs and whisk to until well combined and mixture becomes thick and light in color, about 1 minute. Drizzle cool butter into mixture and whisk to combine. Add oil and buttermilk to mixture and whisk to combine. Add in cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla and whisk to combine. Add pumpkin puree to mixture and whisk to combine.

Pour flour mixture into wet mixture, and using a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula, gently fold the batter until no flour streaks or pockets remain (do not over mix).

To make streusel

Chop candied walnuts and place in a large bowl with flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and whisk to combine. Drizzle melted butter while tossing with a fork or spoon until large chunks form with small pea size pieces.

Assembly

Fill liners to almost full. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons of streusel on top of each filled well. Bake at 425 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

A few notes:

For the candied walnuts, I bought them pre-made from Trader Joes.

For ease of assembly, I used an ice cream scoop to fill the wells with batter.

Make sure to fold the batter until no pockets or streaks of flour remain or else there will be large holes in the finished pumpkin muffins.

I like my muffins deeply spiced, so you'll notice the cinnamon reads 1 tablespoon and the remaining spices follow the higher ratio. To bring down the spiced flaovrs, use 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon of cloves--just keep in mind, I did use the lower ratio for the spicing on the first run, but found the pumpkin muffins lacked a strong flavor.